INEC SIGNS $230M CONTRACTS FOR DDC MACHINES

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday announced that it has signed all the contracts for the supply of a total of 132,000 units of Direct Data Capture (DDC) machines to be used during the voters' registration exercise slated for January 2011.

This put paid to speculations that one of the three firms refused to sign its own papers over a disagreement on the term of the contract.

The Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Kayode Idowu, disclosed in a terse statement in Abuja that equipment were expected in the country within the next 35 days.

Firms contracted for the manufacturing and supply of the DDC Machines are Zinox Technologies Limited, which is to supply 80,000 units at $1, 771. 73 per unit; Messrs Haier Electrical Appliances Corp Limited, with a supply of 30,000 units at $1, 699. 60 per unit; and Avante International Technology Inc., which is to supply 22,000 units at $1, 699. 60 per unit.

The unit cost, according to Idow, was inclusive of all taxes and charges. Daily Sun learnt that INEC was working round the clock to ensure the voters' registration would be conducted successfully. Already, the commission had embarked on the training of its staff that would in turn train the ad-hoc staff to be engaged for the exercise, which will be mainly National Youth Service Corp members.